The 2011 state realignment plan to reduce the state prison inmate population and comply with federal court edicts over overcrowding has had the not-unexpected result of adding more prisoners to the already over-crowded county jails.

The first statistical evaluation of the effects on county jails was delivered last week when the California State Sheriffs’ Association released a report that showed 1,153 inmates with long-term sentences are being housed in facilities that were never meant to accommodate lengthy stays.

“We are not set up to house inmates for this period of time,” according to association legislative director Nick Warner, who was quoted by the Associated Press. There are around 77,000 inmates in county jails and nearly 120,000 in state prisons.

The number is expected to keep growing as terms of the realignment continue to shift qualifying low-level offenders convicted of non-serious, non-violent, non-sex offenses from state prisons to county jails. State officials are trying to comply with federal court directives to improve inmate health care and reduce overcrowding, but critics in local jurisdictions argue that those problems are simply being shifted to underfunded jurisdictions already suffering many of the same problems.

The sheriffs’ survey, which covered jails in 52 of the state’s 58 counties, found 1,109 prisoners serving five-to-10-year sentences and 44 with sentences of 10 years or more. The most common crimes for those sentenced to 5-10 years were vehicle theft, drug trafficking, receiving stolen property, identity theft and commercial burglary. Drug trafficking was the crime of choice for those in lockup for more than 10 years, although theft and felony child abuse were in the mix.

The longest sentence, 43 years, belonged to a prisoner at the Los Angeles County Jail, where 409 (35%) of the long-term inmates reside. San Diego County has 147 long-term inmates, San Bernardino 105, Riverside 63 and Kern County 55.

Before realignment, a prisoner would rarely be in county jail for more than a year unless he was awaiting trial on a complicated court case, according to the Associated Press.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

California County Jails House 1,100 Long-Term Inmates  (by Don Thompson, Associated Press)

Survey of Jail Inmates with Long-Term Sentences (California State Sheriffs’ Association) (pdf)

Prisoners Shifting to Local Jails with Incentives to Not Rehabilitate Them (by Ken Broder, AllGov California)